Ambrose on harassment, and Vegreville job loss

Interim federal Conservative leader Rona Ambrose said Thursday she was disturbed to hear about harassment aimed at one of the Alberta PC leadership candidates.

Sandra Jansen dropped from that race this week, citing attacks against her opinions by supporters of other candidates.

Ambrose told 630 CHED’s Ryan Jespersen she has faced harassment as well. “Well listen, you don’t get to where I’m at without experiencing bullying, harassment, and intimidation as a female politician. But – what you do, is you call it out, which they’ve done. You face it, you acknowledge it, you recognize it. and you call it out for what it is.”

She said shining a light on it is important. “People need to understand that there is no place for that in politics. Unfortunately, we do see a lot of it and women are the ones who get it the worst. There’s no doubt about that.”

Also dropping from the race on Tuesday was Donna Kennedy-Glans. Ambrose says that is also a loss for the race.

“These two women are accomplished. I understand that they are dropping out of the race. I am sad to hear that. But I do know that they will continue to be involved in politics, and that’s really important.”

Ambrose was in Edmonton Thursday to draw attention to a federal move to move the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Case Processing Centre in Vegreville to Edmonton. 280 jobs are involved.

Ambrose said “There was no advance warning. Only full-time employees are being told that they will have a job in Edmonton, but why the assumption that they want to move? What about part-time employees that aren’t being offered anything?”

The MP for the area, Shannon Stubbs, called the move an attack on rural Alberta. (eb)